Dedicated to the Preservation of Athletic History at Colorado State University

Walking Through Time with the Bronze Boot- 1968 to 2008

November 2009 Feature

A circa 1966 Vietnam War era US Army Boot, the same style worn by Dan Romero and that is bronzed to make the most recognized traveling trophy in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Vietnam - 1968

The trophy known as the Bronze Boot. The boot of Capt. Dan Romero that he wore in Vietnam was made into a trophy for the CSU/Wyoming football rivalry in 1968.

Captain Dan Romero

Since 1968, the Bronze Boot has become possibly the most famous piece of footwear in college football history. This US Army combat boot, gilded in bronze is the traveling trophy that is exchanged between the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University for the winning football team. In the 41 years the boot has been exchanged, CSU has won 21 games, while Wyoming has won 20 games, making the Border War the most balanced rivalry in terms of wins and losses over the period since the boot was first introduced.

Few fans of both schools realize the history behind this famous boot before it became the trophy both schools live for each and every football season. It started as a United States issued Army combat boot to Captain Dan Romero. Romero, a native of Colorado and 1955 graduate from Pueblo Central High School attended Pueblo Junior College for two years before he graduated from Adams State College. While at Adams State, Dan Romero met his wife and he played varsity basketball and baseball.

As the war in Vietnam heated up and a draft was immanent, Romero joined the Army before he was drafted. He then attended Officer Candidate School (OCS) where he received his commission to become an officer. Romero was then sent to Vietnam for a tour of duty and in the spring of 1968 he returned to the United States where he was assigned to the Colorado State University ROTC Military Science Department as an assistant professor. Since he was at CSU as an assistant professor, Romero enrolled as a graduate student as expected when officers are assigned to ROTC duty.

The rivalry between Colorado A&M and Wyoming heated up in 1948 when the Aggie-Rams defeated the Cowboys. A&M fans tore down the Wyoming goal posts which started the Border War. (1949 Silver Spruce)

Bronze that Boot

During his 31 seasons as head coach of the Colorado Aggies, Harry Hughes 1910s and all through the 1920s, newspapers referred to the seasonal game against Wyoming and Colorado Agricultural College as the "annual beating of Wyoming." It was hardly a rivalry with the series so lopsided.

Then came WWII and the GI Bill which allowed more and more ex-military men to attend college. Both Colorado A&M and Wyoming experienced a surge in student enrollment and with that came an increased demand for better football. After the war, the two schools began playing football again with the first game in nearly four seasons taking place in 1946. Since then the two schools have played one another every football season, making it one of the longest continuous rivalries in the nation.

When the new resurgence in athletics took place in the late 1940s, the Cowboys and Aggie-Rams began to play a different kind of game against one another and the fans took part in more fights and pranks than ever before. The rivalry really heated up in 1948 when Colorado A&M traveled to Laramie and beat an undefeated Wyoming team. Afterwards Aggie-Ram fans tore down the Wyoming goalposts, which set up another battle in 1949 when Wyoming beat Colorado A&M in Fort Collins. Fans tried to keep the Wyoming visitor fans from tearing down the Colorado Field goalposts and a riot complete with tear gas ensued.

From 1948 to 1955 the two teams battled it out to ruin one another's chances at conference championships. This created a new and heated rivalry, but hard times hit Colorado State university football as it transitioned into the late 1950s and the Rams did not win a game against Wyoming from 1956 to 1965. Although classic stories such as Cowboy Joe being stolen and ridden around the Colorado Field track helped fuel the rivalry, it was not until 1966 that the Rams beat the Cowboys again.

That 1966 upset over the #10 Cowboys helped add new fuel to the fire in the rivalry, but in 1967 the Rams traveled to Laramie as favorites and lost on a long Jerry DePoyster field goal. The 1968 season dawned as a new period in the rivalry and a contest for a new trophy was challenged between the CSU and Wyoming ROTC detachments.

The Bronze Boot tradition coincided with the opening of Hughes Stadium and CSU entering into the Western Athletic Conference in 1968. (Fort Collins Museum)

The Rivalry Heats Up

A 1969 photo of the CADRE at the CSU Army ROTC reveals a photo of Major Vic Fernandez (first person in front row) who along with Captain Romero developed the concept for a Bronze Boot trophy. (1970 Silver Spruce)

With CSU in a new stadium and also a new athletic conference (they had been an independent school since 1962), the ROTC detachments from CSU and Wyoming decided to have a contest to see what could be designed as a traveling trophy for the annual football games. Dan Romero and Major Vic Fernandez came up with the idea to bronze a military boot to use as a traveling trophy. Not just any boot would do, but a boot that saw combat action in a war.

Since both schools are land grant institutions, the military history at both CSU and Wyoming date back to the creation of these two universities. The boot trophy not only served as a piece of the great football rivalry, but according to Dan Romero's son Jeff, it also was established "as a reminder to all who serve that the price of freedom is the commitment by America's men and women to protect the ideals the US was founded on and still live by today."

Dan Romero's boot was chosen likely because he was less than five months from the time he had been in Vietnam, so the boot had seen the most recent action in the worst year of the Vietnam War. The right boot was bronzed and once it took to the process, Jeff Romero stated that the left boot was likely discarded once it was no longer needed. The newly bronzed combat boot was mounted to a walnut wood base, a brass plate was attached to record each season's game and the trophy was born. The ROTC detachments from CSU presented it before the 1968 football game at the newly built Hughes Stadium and the boot's life as a trophy began.

Through the years the Bronze Boot has become the most prized trophy for both schools, but in the beginning it was not as well known. In 1973 it was referred to as the "Brass" Boot in a Collegian article and the ceremony to present the trophy was not like it is today. Early on, the ROTC cadets presented the trophy to the winning team's head coach in a ceremony off the football field. Today, the winning team players grab the trophy in celebration and carry it away from the field.

After the 2005 season, the original brass plate to record the winning games was moved to the back of the trophy to make way for a new plate on the front. That new plate will likely be filled with game scores in the year 2043, when a decision will have to be made as to how the scores will continue to be recorded on the trophy.

Some college football experts say the Bronze Boot ranks as one of the nation's top ten rivalry trophies. Ram fans and Cowboy fans too will say it is the one trophy that will make or break their season.

Special thanks to Jeffrey Romero for his help on this story.

Jeffrey Romero (holding ball) is Captain Dan Romero's son and has become the family spokesperson for the Bronze Boot. Jeffery Romero played for the CSU Rams 1982-1986 and holds his own great memories of games Bronze Boot. (Photo courtesy of Ramnation)

Read about some of the top battles for the Bronze Boot as voted on by CSU and Wyoming fans(Click Here)

(upper left) CSU head coach Sark Arslanian beat Wyoming in 1974 to capture the Bronze Boot for the first time in school history. In the early days of the trophy the boot was presented to the coach rather than run off the field by players. (above) CSU players show the modern way that the boot is taken after the 2008 win in Laramie. (left) Cadets from the Colorado State University ROTC detachment meet head coach Steve Fairchild at the Colorado and Wyoming state line. Another tradition associated with the Border War is that ROTC cadets run the game ball from the stadium of the school that hosted the game the previous season and when at the state line, the ball is handed to the home team school's ROTC cadets to run into the stadium on game day. (CSU Athletic Department, Andrew Quirk and CSU ROTC website)